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3 innovative Halloween marketing campaigns for 2014

In the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) industry, Halloween means big business. For many CPG companies, Halloween only trails Christmas and Easter as the year's top holiday. This year, experts project Halloween candy sales to top $2.5 billion.

With that much money at stake, it is no wonder marketers are trying new ways to reach customers. Here are 3 interesting Halloween campaigns we've seen so far this year.

1. UK-based ASDA uses augmented reality technology to entertain kids.

By using Zappar's free smartphone and tablet app parents and children can 'zap' the masks to reveal AR content and transform themselves into character Sir Spook or George-ina, using the "Spook Swap" function to switch between characters.

Max Dawes, partnerships director at Zappar, commented: "It's great for us to be able to work with such a well-loved family brand again. We wanted to help Asda create really engaging moments for their customers and with our latest Halloween offering in-store and at home I think we've done just that."

Take home packs will also be available for shoppers which include four stickers that can be placed around their homes in order to create a personalised monster treasure hunt with the aim of catching new characters Fang and Fangle.

Steph Hughes, head of in-store marketing, non-food, at Asda commented: "Keeping kids entertained whether you're doing the weekly shop or unpacking at home is always a challenge. We've had great feedback from our customers with previous in-store events using Zappar, so we're excited to be able to take this even bigger for Halloween this year. - Ishbel Macleod, The Drum

Instagram is a key platform for the brand and Target wanted a unique way to leverage features like picture tagging and Like2Buy -- a service by Curalate that allows users to shop directly from Instagram.

All the items from the do-it-yourself projects featured in the campaign can be found in Target stores. But sales take a backseat to brand awareness in this social push.

"This campaign is really built on the notion of driving engagement and fueling brand love," said Ms. Jenkins. "This was really about celebrating the Halloween experience." - Ashley Rodriguez, AdAge

Cool Target Halloween marketing campaign this year taps on DIY culture on Instagram. (CLICK TO TWEET)

Chupa Chups launches "choose your own adventureÛ Halloween game.

"Get Lolli" is a 'choose your own adventure' game on Instagram and was built to create awareness of Chupa Chups during the biggest candy-sharing event of the year. In the game, players are encouraged to help a 'finger' find his friend Lolli (a Chupa Chups lollipop) who has been kidnapped.

The game uses Instagram's native features to guide players through a haunted house filled with quirky, spooky messages inspired by popular horror movies and characters such as Psycho, Dracula, The Ring and Freddie Kruger.

Daan Simonis, international digital marketing manager, Perfetti Van Melle said: "This Halloween, we wanted to entertain our audience who have grown up with a mobile device in their hands. The campaign will give them a chance to experience game play on a platform they are already familiar with.- Rezwana Manjur, Marketing Interactive

These examples push the envelope, but using the latest technologies and launching social media-driven campaigns aren't enough to win the Halloween season. A deeper understanding of your customers will make sure your campaigns don't scare off people. Engaging your online community of customers before launching a campaign can also help mitigate risks and identify potential opportunities.

Which companies are doing a great job of marketing to customers this Halloween season? Share your examples with us below, or tweet us at @VisionCritical.